Attendees at Discovery 12 were given the chance to touch and be touched by ShadowSense™, a new Canadian-born technology. Nytric™ and its sister company Baanto™, makers of the world’s largest and most intuitive multi-touch screen technology, showcased this revolutionary touchscreen experience at the Discovery 12 Conference and Showcase, which was held in Toronto earlier this week.
“Shadowsense technology is an excellent example of how an Ontario-born innovation has the potential to lead advancements in multi touch technology and ultimately change how consumers around the world see and use that technology,” said Dr. Tom Corr, President and Chief Executive Office of Ontario Centres of Excellence.

Nytric/Baanto have applied ShadowSense to what is believed to be the world’s largest multi-touch screen at a staggering 193” X 72”. Prominently located at the entrance to Discovery 12, the show’s “touch wall” measured 128” X 48”. In partnership with Christie®, the wall was comprised of 32 Christie® MicroTiles®. These MicroTiles are scalable, can be stacked or clustered to create custom shapes all while maintaining full-motion, vibrant visuals in a bright atmosphere that exceeds current LED capabilities. Nytric/Baanto also developed a dynamic, interactive software presentation that was custom built for Discovery to showcase the many unique features of ShadowSense.

“The ShadowSense technology boasts a staggering 18 simultaneous touch inputs and, unlike traditional touch technology that requires bare finger touch or a stylus, this technology intuitively recognizes almost any touch mechanism,” says Av Utukuri, CTO and Founder of Nytric and Baanto. “It is a better and more cost-effective technology than any mid- to large-size multi-touch device currently on the market.”

Discovery 12 was the first time that touch point size detection (Tsense™) was made available in a mid- to large-size touchscreen environment. Other firsts include the ability to recognize accidental touches, static object detection and durability, and easy, cost effective scalability – significant improvements over existing touchscreen technology.

“ShadowSense solves many of the technical shortcomings of existing touch technologies,” adds Utukuri. “By rethinking the traditional hardware and algorithms commonly used in optical touch solutions, we have created what we believe to be the most robust optical touch-sensing technology available today. Our patented technology and position sensing algorithms have allowed us to create low-cost, high-performance sensor architectures and avoid the ghosting, obscuration and ‘dead zones’ that plague imager or camera-based solutions currently on the market. It scales well, doesn’t require constant recalibration and is incredibly easy to integrate.”

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ShadowSense’s touch performance is exceptional, boasting a touch response time of less than seven milliseconds and a touch detection of objects as small as five millimeters in diameter. Its algorithms are extremely efficient and all touchpoint processing is performed by the integrated touch controller. As a result, the host interface (Windows® 7 USB HID packet) requires no drivers, nor does it consume CPU resources on the host PC or media controller. As a perimeter-based technology, the ShadowSense touch sensor is independent of the protective glass, resulting in brighter displays, immunity to casual scratches and debris on the screen, and vandal resistant operation, while IP65 sealing resists dust and moisture intrusion.

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Baanto’s new touchscreen technology can now be used as a replacement in many chassis and systems that incorporate existing ELO single-touch technology. By offering robust multi-touch functionality and a larger touchscreen at or below the cost of existing touch technology, ShadowSense will not only appeal to next generation developers but will ultimately benefit the consumers who will use the new applications spawned by this technology.

Baanto’s new technology is expected to expand multi-touch capabilities for the kiosk, gaming, ATM, PC, PC monitor and additional markets because it provides a robust and cost-effective touchscreen solution to support the development of innovative new applications.